ExpressVPN

A premium VPN at a reasonable price

Our Verdict

A top quality VPN which managed to exceed our expectations in terms of platform support, privacy, ease of use and its excellent support. The limit of three simultaneous connections may be an issue for some, but otherwise this VPN delivers a polished and powerful experience.

Pros

Enterprise-level encryption

Clients for most platforms

Excellent support

Clear no-logging policy

Cons

Maximum 3 simultaneous connections

Above-average prices

ExpressVPN is popular British Virgin Islands-based VPN provider that delivers more features than the rest of the competition.

For example, the company offers an extensive network of more than 2,000 servers across 148 cities in 94 countries. While Europe and the US have the most coverage, ExpressVPN also has many locations in Asia and several in South America, the Middle East and Africa.

The company also supports numerous platforms with apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux and more. ExpressVPN even offers detailed setup guides for routers, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Playstation, Chromebooks and other devices that may be difficult to configure for a VPN.

With its VPN service, you can utilise three simultaneous connections which is less than NordVPN and IPVanish. However, this shouldn’t be a problem for most users, especially as ExpressVPN offers router support so that all of your devices can be connected to a VPN.

The company even throws in a lot of extras including high-end encryption, split-tunneling and the ability to use its own DNS servers to protect your Internet traffic.

Plans and pricing

ExpressVPN has a very simple pricing structure with just three plans to choose from. You can sign up for a monthly plan at $12.95 (£9.98) per month or a 6-month plan at $9.99 (£7.74) per month. However, the company’s annual plan provides the most savings at $8.32 (£6.44) per month which equals a 35% discount on the monthly price.

ExpressVPN also supports a wide variety of payment methods including cards, PayPal, AliPay and even Bitcoin for those who wish to protect their anonymity.

For those still on the fence, the company offers a 30-day money back guarantee so that you can see if the service is to your liking and its mobile apps even come with 7-day free trials.

Privacy

Every VPN claims to offer complete privacy and ExpressVPN takes this a step further with its impressive list of features designed to protect its customers identities online.

Instead of just mentioning that it supports encryption, the company goes into detail regarding how it uses a 4096-bit SHA-512 RSA certificate with AES-256-CBC to encrypt its control channel and HMAC (Hash Message Authentication Code) to protect data being sent over its servers from being altered in real time.

ExpressVPN also protects its customers with DNS support. The company not only offers DNS leak protection to prevent data about your activities online from leaking out of the tunnel, it also runs its own private, zero-knowledge, 256-bit encrypted DNS on each of its own servers. This is just another way ExpressVPN takes things a step above its competition who typically redirect your DNS traffic to OpenDNS or another third-party service.

Logging

ExpressVPN lets potential customers know that it takes logging seriously right from the front page of its website where it states: "Based in the British Virgin Islands, a tropical oasis without data retention laws. No activity logs. No connection logs."

The company goes further into detail regarding its logging policy by explaining exactly what data it collects, what it doesn’t, why the service works this way and what it means for users.

ExpressVPN doesn’t keep any logs of your IP address when you connect, the time you’ve logged in, the VPN IP address you’ve been assigned or any information on the websites you’ve visited. The company only records each date (not the time) when you connect to its VPN and the server you choose.

Performance

Speed is one of the most important factors when choosing a VPN and ExpressVPN didn’t disappoint in this department. The service’s latency is reasonable with connections closer to your actual location performing better than those that are farther away which is typically the case with most VPNs.

Download speeds were also quite good and averaged around 55Mbps in our series of tests which is more than acceptable for everyday computing.

Client setup

One of the most difficult aspects of using a VPN for the first time is installing and setting up the clent. Thankfully, ExpressVPN simplifies this process by automatically detecting the device you’re using and providing a download link for that platform. This saves you the trouble of hunting around its website to find the link for your specific device.

ExpressVPN also makes it easy to install its VPN on multiple devices. Instead of having to manually enter your username and password, the company provides you with a unique activation code in its download page which can be copied and pasted into any additional clients you’re trying to setup. The software then automatically sets up your login credentials so you won’t have to go searching for them yourself.

Browser extensions

While ExpressVPN’s clients are polished and easy to use, you can also connect to your VPN right from your browser. The company offers Chrome and Firefox extensions that allow you to control the client and service via your browser so that you don’t have to open another app when trying to browse the web securely.

A few of the advanced tools such as the settings dialog and speed test are not available when using the VPNs browser extensions but they do allow you to get connected quickly and take advantage of the service from the place you will likely use it most.

Support

ExpressVPN provides a lengthy list of troubleshooting guides on its site to help out users experiencing difficulties. These guides are straightforward, to the point and written for those without any previous technical knowledge.

The company’s website also has a number of setup articles that go into even greater detail. ExpressVPN has tutorials on how to set up its apps as well as separate setup guides for Ubuntu, Raspberry PI, Terminal and more.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for on its site, ExpressVPN’s support team is available 24/7 via email and live chat.

Final verdict

ExpressVPN is a quality VPN that delivers with a huge network, clients for almost all major platforms, no serious logging, speed and improved security.

The Verdict

4.5

out of 5

ExpressVPN

A top quality VPN which managed to exceed our expectations in terms of platform support, privacy, ease of use and its excellent support. The limit of three simultaneous connections may be an issue for some, but otherwise this VPN delivers a polished and powerful experience.

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